General

Object-Oriented Programming – The Basic Idea

Object-oriented programming or OOP is a programming approach and refers to all those programming languages that take assignment help to use the concept of objects in the programming. They mostly use objects to carry out the instructions given in the code. The user or viewer sees objects as they carry out the responsibilities you give them. Using real-world concepts like inheritance, hiding, polymorphism, etc., in programming is the goal of object-oriented programming. The primary goal of OOP is to bind together the data and the functions that use them such that only that function and no other part of the code can access the data.

It may sound difficult to understand, but it will not be when you read this post to get clearer concepts about object-oriented programming. 

On that note, let’s dig deeper and elaborate on the basic concepts of OOPs so that you have a detailed idea of this concept. 

Class – 

A user-defined class serves as a template or prototype from which objects can be built. It is the collection of attributes or operations shared by all objects of a particular type. With classes, you can build several objects with the same behaviour instead of writing their code multiple times. Classes for objects that appear more than once in your code are included in this.

In general, class declarations can have the following parts in the following order:

  • Modifiers: A class may have default access or be made public.
  • Class name: The first letter of the class name should be capitalised.
  • Superclasses: If there is one, the term extends is followed by the name of the class’s parent (superclass). Just one parent can be extended (subclassed) by a class.
  • Interfaces:  This is a list of the interfaces that the class, if any, implements, separated by commas, should be included. A class may support several interfaces.
  • Body: Braces or enclose the class body.

Object – 

An object representing actual physical entities is a fundamental building block of object-oriented programming. A typical Java programme creates several objects which interact via calling methods. The parts of your code that are visible to the viewer or user are the objects which carry out your code. An object mostly includes:

  • State: An object’s properties serve as a representation of it. Moreover, it reflects an object’s characteristics.
  • Behaviour: The methods of an object serve as a representation of behaviour. It also shows how one object reacts to other objects.
  • Identity: An object’s identity is its special name, which enables it to communicate with other objects.
  • Method: A method is a group of statements that work together to complete a certain task and return the outcome to the caller. A method has the option of working without returning anything. Methods are regarded as time savers since they enable us to reuse the code without having to retype it.

Let us understand with an example of a code:

Code – 

public class GFG {

static String Employee_name;

static float Employee_salary;

 

static void set(String n, float p) {

Employee_name = n;

Employee_salary = p;

}

 

static void get() {

System.out.println(“Employee name is: ” +Employee_name );

System.out.println(“Employee CTC is: ” + Employee_salary);

}

 

public static void main(String args[]) {

GFG.set(“Amy Jacobs”, 10000.0f);

GFG.get();

}

}

Output – 

The employee’s name is: Amy Jacobs

Employee CTC is: 10000.0

Now that your confusion regarding classes and objects in OOP has been addressed, let me introduce you to the four pillars of OOP. 

The 4 Pillars of Object-Oriented Programming –

  • Abstraction – 

Only the most pertinent information is shown to the user as a result of data abstraction. The user does not see superfluous or unnecessary units. For instance, a car is seen as a whole rather than as its distinct parts.

Identifying only the necessary aspects of an object while discarding the unnecessary elements is what defines data abstraction. An object can be classified or grouped according to its characteristics and behaviours, which also assist in distinguishing it from other objects of the same sort.

For instance, consider a man operating a vehicle. The man just understands that pressing the accelerator will make the automobile go faster and that applying the brakes will make the car stop, but he has no idea how the speed increases when the accelerator is pressed. He has no knowledge of the car’s internal workings or how the accelerator, brakes, etc., are used. Abstraction is exactly what it is.

  • Encapsulation – 

It is described as the collection of data into a single entity. It is the mechanism that connects the code to the data that it works with. Encapsulation can also be viewed as a barrier that stops code from outside the barrier from accessing the data.

Strictly speaking, encapsulation means that a class’s variables or data are kept private from other classes and are only accessible through member functions of the class in which they are stated.

Encapsulation works similarly to data hiding, concealing a class’s data from other classes. In this sense, “encapsulation” and “data-hiding” are synonyms.

Encapsulation can be accomplished by writing public methods in the class to set and get the values of the variables and by declaring all of the variables in the class as private.

  • Inheritance – 

Inheritance is a crucial OOP tenet (Object Oriented Programming). It’s Java’s mechanism for allowing one class to take on another class’s attributes (fields and methods). By employing the extend keyword, we are able to achieve inheritance. Another name for inheritance is a relationship that “is-a.”

Now to understand inheritance accurately, you need to get familiar with the following terminology – 

  • Superclass: A superclass is a class from which features are inherited (also known as base or parent class).
  • Subclass: A subclass is a class that inherits from another (also known as derived or extended) or child class. In addition to the attributes and methods of the superclass, the subclass may also add additional fields and methods.
  • Reusability: The idea of “reusability” is supported by inheritance; for example, if we want to construct a new class, but an existing class already contains some of the code we need, we can derive our new class from the old class. We are utilising the fields and methods of the pre-existing class by doing this.
  • Polymorphism – 

It speaks to the effective distinction between entities with the same name that object-oriented programming languages are capable of making. Java accomplishes this with the aid of these entities’ signatures and declarations. Polymorphism is the capacity to manifest in a variety of forms. Polymorphism is of two types – 

  • Overloading
  • Overriding 

Wrapping it up –

All that you read till now is the basics of OOP. There are many detailed concepts henceforth, but you can only progress to them once you have aced the above-mentioned concepts.

About the author – 

Anne Gill is a research scholar at one of the most renowned universities in London. She is associated with MyAssignmenthelp.co.uk to provide computer science assignment help services to students. She is a top-rated service provider among numerous students across various renowned universities in London.